Black Helicopters

What are they doing in Napa?

By Harry V. Martin

Copyright FreeAmerica and Harry V. Martin, 1995

The United States Air Force has confirmed that those mysterious helicopter flights over Napa County are classified operations. The helicopters are supplying what appears to be a secret base located on Bureau of Land Management property, without the knowledge or permission of the Bureau. The U.S. military has not informed Napa County, nor has it indicated anything on FAA/Military maps.

Aerial shots taken this weekend over the 87 acre Bureau land near Oakville Grade show large cement bunkers with large concrete doors, a new road, freshly graded, and some underground facility. The satellite link-ups have geo-synchronized microwave dishes pointing straight up. There are approximately 8 to 10 dishes on the tower, which is not shown on any FAA map.

The aerial shots would indicate that a lot of government money has gone into the building of this secret base in Napa. The structure is virtually near the top of a mountain. The military helicopter overflights are apparently supplying the underground facility.

The cargo helicopters, however, are only part of the traffic. Black helicopters without markings have been making 3 a.m. flights to the facility. There are several black helicopters at Hamilton Air Force Base, but all of them have some identifying marking, particular FBI markings. One helicopter only has a Playboy bunny marked on its tail.

The Air Force will not comment on the helicopters, only stating, "The helicopter traffic over the Napa Hills is a classified operation."

The Sentinel acknowledges the valuable assistance of Mike Jamieson for supplying films of the location.

But what type of military base is in the Napa hills and what is its function? That will be part of a series commencing on September 1, exclusive reports from within the military and intelligence community.

Black Helicopters

By Harry V. Martin

Copyright, Napa Sentinel 1992

A secret installation near the Oakville Grade is being used by the United States Government for three purposes. Increased helicopter traffic is directly linked to this installation.

The installations and helicopter traffic serve the following purposes:

Direct satellite communication.

Continuity of the U.S. Government in case of nuclear attack or other disasters.

Secure communication links with the outside world in the event of a disaster.

The helicopter traffic over the last year has been provisioning an elaborate underground complex designed to hold government officials, scientists and other high echelon personnel in the event of an emergency. The helicopters have been transporting generators, food stock, electronic and communications equipment, and other items to the site.

The secret government site is replacing other installations and combining them into one solid underground center. An installation at Benicia is considered too marginal and vulnerable. Its functions have been transferred to Napa. An underground facility in Ukiah, an old railroad tunnel, was not serving the full purpose. The remote area of Napa was selected to combine the functions of the Ukiah and Benicia facilities into a more secure area. Napa is considered to be safe from the nuclear fallout zone of targeted areas in the San Francisco Bay Area.

The facility in the Napa hills is heavily fortified and protected with thick concrete. Its microwave tower is pointed toward Santa Rosa, where AT&T has secure communications links. The microwave dishes are to guarantee government officials with direct access to national communication links. The government has always relied on AT&T for those links.

The satellite dishes make direct communication with geosynchronized satellites at regular time intervals. The communication linkage is by laser, which accounts for the constant reports of light beams and flashes in the area. The operation in Napa County is classified according to the United States Air Force.

The area has been serviced by unmarked helicopters for some time. There have been other helicopter overflights, some as part of the Drug Enforcement Agency sweep and others are National Guard training missions. But the main and constant force has been to supply this secret installation.

The United States Government has similar installations all over the nation. These facilities are all located in remote areas which would not normally be targeted by enemy nations for a nuclear strike. Napa Valley's wine growing areas provide a good cover for such an installation.

Similar helicopter traffic has been reported in other areas of California and the west, which indicates the government is creating new facilities or is preparing for some type of disaster or upheaval.

The helicopters used in Napa are olive drab and also black, all unmarked. The olive drab helicopters originate from Hamilton Air Force Base and operate generally in late afternoon and in the evening. The black helicopters generally operate in the late evening and early morning hours. The olive drab helicopters are providing supplies to the secret installation, but the black helicopters are providing direct laser communication to satellites.

Hamilton Air Force base has confirmed that the helicopters originate from their area and that the mission is classified.

Black Helicopters

What they are doing in Napa

By Harry V. Martin

While KVON radio's news department and the "Johnny-come-lately" Napa Valley Register wallow in whether or not a telephone tower in Sonoma County has anything to do with the increased flight of helicopters in Napa County, the Sentinel has obtained over 200 pages of unclassified and secret documents which outline the purpose of a special communications and government continuity base in the Napa hills.

The documents, which focus on 26 unclassified reports, 1 "for official use" report, and 14 secret reports, relate specifically to continuity of government and emergency telecommunication systems. Participating with the government is this classified nationwide emergency telecommunications Service for National Security Telecommunications ITT, AT&T, COMSAT, MCII and TRT.

Plans went into motion in 1988 and 1989 to ensure secure national and international communications and the continuity of government in case of war or disaster. The plan is being implemented throughout the nation, with similar helicopter traffic and construction of facilities. For national security reasons, much of the work is done in secret.

The National Security Telecommunications Advisory Commission reactivated the Commercial Satellite Survivability Task Force to assist the government and recommending secure telecommunications systems that would survive any disaster. The systems are used not only in case of war, but also when disasters such as hurricanes, floods, or earthquakes destroy existing commercial telecommunication facilities.

The government asked the group for international augmentation from an interexchange carrier switch via an international gateway satellite earth station. The foreign end users identified in the report are senior U.S. civilian and military officials overseas. The problem that existed was that foreign satellites do not operate with the same type of equipment used in the United States. Satellite earth stations working together in an international link are owned and operated by different companies and agencies.

When the INTELSAT is used incompatibility is at a minimum, but when CCITT systems are used, there are major incompatibilities to be overcome. The construction of new systems is part of a 12-point plan:

That the Government establish a commercial satellite communications survivability program which will satisfy National Security requirements.

That the Government establish a Commercial Satellite Survivability (CSS) Program Office to coordinate the program within the Government.

That the CSS Program Office, in conjunction with the planning arm of the NCM, should undertake a program to develop emergency control plans and procedures to assure the capability to coordinate the restoration of commercial satellite communications service under emergency conditions.

The development of a capability for communications interoperability at critical earth stations to maintain emergency communications networks.

The development of a capability utilizing the Date Encryption Standard algorithm to protect critical digital communications links if communications protection over commercial satellite systems is required by the Government.

The development of a capability to enhance the survivability of satellite control systems through actions to achieve command link protection.

The development of control interoperability between satellite systems to control the commercial communications satellite assets under emergency conditions.

The development of capabilities which increase physical security of satellite control facilities and communications earth stations.

The CSS Program Office should initiate a study which would assess the susceptibility of existing commercial satellite communications systems to nuclear effects and provide recommendations which would established hardening guidelines for further commercial satellite programs.

Development of a transportable terminal capability to enhance survivability and restoral of critical satellite communications systems.

Enhancement of control survivability through the development of transportable TT&C terminal facilities.

Development of a capability for Ku-band communications interoperability at critical earth stations to maintain emergency communications networks.

Napa is not alone in this area in participation of the program, units exist through Pac Bell's access tandem in Vallejo and also in Benicia and Santa Rosa. These units can patch in or over disrupted communication ground lines. The main continental United States (CONUS) focuses on the west coast traveling to the east coast and back again. CONUS contour maps show a major segment of that critical beam is located on or near Napa.

On Tuesday, the Sentinel published an article outlining the purposes and scope of the local project and its relationship with the helicopter traffic. In summary, the article stated the purpose of a secret installation in Napa served by the helicopters was for:

Direct satellite communications.

Continuity of the U.S. Government in case of nuclear attack or other upheaval.

Secure communication links with the outside world in the event of a disaster.

The helicopter traffic over the last year has been provisioning an elaborate underground complex designed to hold government officials, scientists and other high echelon personnel in the event of an emergency, similar facilities are active all over the United States. The local installation is combining and replacing installations from Benicia to underground railroad tunnels in Ukiah.

There is no sinister plot involved. The site was selected because Napa is considered to be safe from the nuclear fallout zone.

Black Helicopters, they do exist, despite local media scorn

Links with FEMA and Wackenhut Corporation

By Harry V. Martin

EDITOR'S NOTE: During the summer months, the Napa Sentinel published a series of articles on black helicopters and a clandestine government base operating in Napa County. Through nationwide radio programs and other contacts, the Sentinel has been able to accumulate substantial information to show that Napa was not exclusive in the helicopter-clandestine base scenario. Such activities have been reported all across the United States. This article concerns those other sightings.

They are black, unmarked and generally fly late at night. This is one type of helicopter traffic reported over Napa this year - regular and steady. Local air commanders have never confirmed the origins of these helicopters.

The local media, despite receiving reports of such activities themselves, have attempted to make a farce out of the numerous reports. The Napa Valley Register attempted to pooh-pooh the reports as from crazed UFO followers and used a PacBell repeating station photograph to "discredit" any clandestine base. KVON radio, which originally confirmed the helicopter flights, just recently qualified their previous reports by stating "if" such helicopters existed. Neither media has made any serious attempt to trace the origins or pattern of the helicopter traffic.

The Napa Sentinel reported the flight patterns, interviewed eyewitnesses, talked to military and intelligence sources, and provided a scenario for the entire phenomenon. Since that period of time, however, reports have surfaced across the country. Black helicopters overhead, unmarked. In a few ground sightings, the occupants of the helicopters have been described as men wearing black uniforms carrying automatic weapons. The helicopters appear almost unreachable.

In the Watsonville area, one such helicopter landed. Law enforcement officials went to investigate but left the scene when encountering armed men in black uniforms. "We had black helicopters come over here every day," states several Massachusetts families. "They were just plain black, with no markings."

A Paris, Texas-based group, "These mystery helicopters are almost always without identifying markings. The aircraft are frequently reported flying at abnormal, unsafe or illegal altitudes. They may shy away if witnesses or law officers try to approach. But there are several accounts of aggressive behavior on the part of the helicopter occupants."

These type of helicopters have also been reported over Loring, Maine, Wurtsmith, Michigan and Malmstrom, Montana, as well as northeastern New Mexico. Military officials in Colorado state that black helicopters seen in their area do not belong to the military. When the FAA was asked to investigate black helicopter traffic over New Mexico, Freedom of Information Act requests show they had no investigation on file. Yet, the FAA did have investigators in the field taking depositions from individuals.

Thomas Adams of Texas has spent a lot more time investigating the black helicopter mystery than the Sentinel has. He has listed hundreds of sightings from all over the country. In fact, the Napa Sentinel is not the only media to be investigating black helicopter traffic. Major TV and print media in Colorado, the Los Angeles Times, KLTV-TV in Tyler Texas, the Kilgore News Hearld in Texas, the Denver Post, the reports go on and on, in Colorado, Texas, Nebraska, Wyoming, Montana, Oklahoma, Kansas, Illinois, South Dakota, Arkansas, Alberta, Wisconsin, Berkeley, California, Missouri, Arizona, Minnesota. Law enforcement officials in various states have also investigated the black helicopter traffic.

The bulk of the helicopter traffic is seen throughout the United States from August through October, with some heavy activity in February, July, November and December. Reports have been received from Monterey and Southern California, as well. Colorado appears to have the heaviest concentration of black helicopter traffic, with Texas being second.

Communities and publications in these areas confirm or suggest the existence of underground facilities serviced by helicopters. "The small amount of published evidence that is available indicates that the great majority of these underground bases are for use by government agencies in the event of nuclear war," states one publication. The agencies associated with these underground facilities include the Pentagon, CIA, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the National Security Agency (NSA).

In May 1992, revelations came to the surface that a large secret government bunker was located under the rich Greenbriar Hotel in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia. It had been hidden there for years. Only six members of Congress knew about the living quarters, meeting rooms and banks of computers and communications equipment installed underneath the posh hotel. It contains two giant blast doors, each weighing more than 20 tons, supplied with water, electricity and even a sewage treatment system. It also had an infirmary, shower facilities, a television studio, radio and communications equipment, phone booths and code machines, a dining and kitchen area, a power plant and even a crematorium for disposing of the corpses of those who might die inside the sealed bunker.

FEMA also operates a number of underground bunkers across the country. Such installations are usually surrounded by high fences and patrolled by armed guards. Only a few of the buildings appear above ground. At least 96 underground centers have been secretly funded by the United States Government.

A Chicago-based source with high credentials in such investigations, claims that the black helicopters are not a military operation, but rather are operated by the Wackenhut Corporation and FEMA. Wackenhut is a private company that provides security in prisons, hospitals, government installations and other facilities. It was founded by former FBI agents and has been called the modern "Robocop" organization. FEMA, has broad emergency powers. It was created by President Jimmy Carter and has the ability to virtually take over the country or any region in a disaster. With FEMA and the private Wackenhut army teamed together, neither are regulated by too many outside authorities.

Though the helicopter traffic over Napa eased after the series of media articles and broadcasts, they have reappeared again. In one eye-witnessed incident, at least four of the black helicopters focussed for hours on a site off of the Oakville Grade, northwest of the Fire Station near Dry Creek Road.

While Napa is in its infancy in investigating black helicopters (and some of the local media acting in infantile ways about the subject), the mysterious black helicopters are a well-talked about and well-written about phenomena in many other western states.
Stay tuned.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Harry Martin was formerly the editorial director of Military Electronics Countermeasures, Defense Electronics, Microwave Systems News, International Countermeasures Handbook, and publisher of Defense Systems Review and Military Communications.